Cruise Control

Chapter Two

POV Zach

A grunt escaped my mouth as I pick my duffle bag up from the ground, ready to follow Zara into the check-in area.
Allthough I'm ready, my feet seemed to be glued down on the ground.
This whole thing was a slippery slope and I was almost sure I was going to fall off it, hard. Why I decided to get onto this boat still is beyond me, but I just couldn't let her board this boat for 8 days all by herself.
Do you even know how many people go missing on cruise ships every year? About 200 hundred. I didn't like the odds.
Jake was a dickhead for skipping on her, Jake was a dickhead period. He had treated her badly for years, but she was too in love to see it. I was fucking happy when he broke up with her, at least he wouldn't be a dicjhead to Zara anymore.
Her flowy lilac dress swayed with each step she took. Her long thick brown hair bounced up and down. Her ass swaying.
Okay stop, you've seen here for ten minutes now and you're already going back into the fantasies. She is your best friend's ex for god's sake.
I swallowed and finally took the first foot off the ground and as if Zara had felt this she turned around with an annoyed look on her face.
'Are you going to come or not? Better yet, what if you just stay here and don't come.' Ouch.
It was my own fault, I hadn't really been nice to her these last couple of years, but every time I would try to come close Jake would threaten to cut off my balls.
God, why was I even friends with him still?
'Oh yeah, I'm coming. Wouldn't miss this for the world.' She rolled her eyes before turning back and making her way through the doors.
I followed up with her, coming to a halt in the line next to her.
She turned to me and looked me up and down with those big brown doe eyes of hers. She wrinkled her nose, which was in my opinion her cutest trademark, and then shook her head.
'You're really wearing all black on a cruise? Where's the Hawaiian shirt? The colorful baseball caps.'
'You know that's not my style.' This seemed to trigger her because she crossed her arms over her chest.
'Actually, I don't know. I've known you for eight years now and I still know next to nothing about you.' She was right, I don't open up to people, but still, her words stung.
It probably meant Jake didn't talk about me to her, which probably meant she really did think I hated her.
For the record, I didn't. I just couldn't get too close to her. I shouldn't really be doing this either, I should be at home, working on my next case, but here I was, ready to board this massive floating village.
It had been a miracle that I was able to take two weeks off, but my boss insisted that it was time for me to take it.
The last time I took a day off was three years ago, I have been working all the time ever since.
I just shrugged at her.
'As you said, let's not get in each other's way, then I think we'll be fine.' This seemed to annoy her even more but she crossed her arms and turned away from me, patiently waiting until it was our turn.
Great fucking start Zach. 
I was no better than Jake, although I kept my distance from her so I wouldn't hurt her.
I brushed a hand through my hair and looked down at her.
Her arms were crossed underneath her chest, accentuating her breasts. Her lips were drawn into a straight line and she seemed stiff.
I was really struggling with myself in this situation. A part of me wanted to change my attitude towards her, part of me wanted to say sorry and just hold her, but I also knew that wasn't an option.
I was just here so she wouldn't be alone. I was just here because I cared about her and I didn't agree with the way Jake left things.
'What does your wife think of this? I'm sure she doesn't like her husband on a two-week cruise with the ex of his best friend.' She couldn't help herself, could she? She couldn't ignore me even if she tried.
It was just who she was. Over the past years I had noticed she was not good at staying mad at people, she always kept on trying.
She kept on trying to make small talk with me even though it was clear there was no way I would engage in more.
'We got a divorce one and a half years ago.' Zara's shoulders seemed to relax a bit and she turned back to me. A sorry look on her face.
'Oh my God, I didn't know. I'm sorry.' She said and I shook my head.
'It's fine, it was for the better.' I gave her the easy answer, the premade one that I told everyone.
I couldn't just tell Zara that I had been in love with her for eight years and that it was also the reason I never really could love my Ex-wife. It was complicated.
Zara opened her mouth in response but she was interrupted by the receptionist.
'Next!' Thank god, I was afraid Zara wasn't going to let this one go, especially since Zach hadn't seemed to tell her I was divorced.
She turned around, almost stumbling over her suitcase.
In a reflex I grabbed her by the waist, my fingers burning against her skin.
She pried herself from my grip, her hair had fallen in front of her bright red face.
'Thanks.' She muttered before laying her passport on the desk in front of us.
Zara blew the hair out of her face and smiled at the woman behind the desk.
I took my passport out of my pocket and also gave it to the lady.
'Jake never told me anything about you.' She said as we waited for the receptionist to finish checking us in.
'He really didn't?' She shook her head and retrieved her passport.
'No, I mean I thought you had the most boring life for a while, I thought that was why he didn't talk about you.'
'I don't have a boring life.' It came out defensive, making her reach her brows. I always grabbed my passport and placed it
'I didn't know I would hit a sensitive snare.' She said.
I was sure Jake never told me anything about me because he was incredibly jealous. He knew how I felt about her when we got to know her and still, he snatched her out from under my face.
It was my own fault too, I had waited too long to make the first move. I was scared that I would hurt her, that I wasn't ready to be falling in love with anyone and I had regretted it ever since.
We started moving towards the stairs and onto the walkway into the ship. Her suitcases rolled on the ground, hitching at the places that were elevated. I got the strong urge to take it from her, to make it a bit easier for her.
'Wait, let me carry your suitcase.'
'I'm fine.' She said, a slight annoyance in her voice and she continued walking.
This spur-of-the-moment decision was going to be harder than I thought.
I would be sleeping in the same room with her for two weeks, how the hell was I going to have to keep my distance from her?
She looked down at the keycard holder in her hand.
'Room 403.' She said.
'I think that's on one of the higher decks.' I nodded and continued to follow her through the ship.
A lot was happening surrounding us but I only had eyes for the short brown-haired girl in front of me.
I was going to have to text my therapist the moment I had some time.
The therapy sessions seemed to be paying off and while they were mandatory by the police department I was happy I had them.
While hesitant at first I found out that it was actually nice to finally talk to someone.
'How did you manage to get two weeks off the night before?' What was this? Was she interrogating me? Normally that was my job.
'I actually had a lot of days saved up and it hasn't been really busy.' It wasn't a complete lie, I just didn't tell her the whole truth. She raised her brows and stopped in front of the lift. Pressing the button.
'We live in Miami, how many homicides happen per year?' She paused and I leaned against the wall with my arm, looking down at me.
Her eyes grazed my body and I could swear I saw her swallow, I could swear she was startled for a moment, with me towering over her.
'Last year we had 258.' I said and she nodded as if to say, see, how can you not be busy?
'It's been a slow year.' I said, my mouth feeling dry all of a sudden, thinking about the fact that I had been caught in a lie.
'Sure.' Zara paused.
'Are you undercover? Am I a suspect in some weird crime or something?' I suppress a laugh and shook my head.
'Like I said, lots of vacation days and time to spare.' She squinted her eyes at me and if she wanted to say something to me, she didn't because the doors of the elevator opened and she averted her gaze.
Clearly feeling uncomfortable by me she stepped into the elevator and I followed. We stood there in silence, the only sound was the speaker that played the most generic elevator music known to man.
We arrived at our floor and Zara didn't seem to know how fast she had to get out of that elevator.
A relieved sigh escaped her mouth the moment she set foot on the ground of the long hallway.
Either she really didn't like being in a closed-off space with me - which was probably going to be a problem - or she was afraid to be in an elevator at all.
I looked her up and down. Her shoulders were stiff, she was clutching her hand into a fist and holding on to her suitcase for dear life, her knuckles slowly turning white. I couldn't see her face as she was facing me with her back, but I was sure the look on her face wouldn't be happy.
She was afraid.
The thought of Zara being afraid made me want to wrap my arms around her and hold her tight, whisper sweet nothings in her ear.
God, I was down badly.
Sure I hadn't seen her in four months but I also didn't think the impact of seeing her again would be this big.
I genuinely hoped that I was over her, that I could do this as someone who just wanted the best for her, as a friend, but boy was I wrong.
This wasn't the time or place. For starters, she was the ex of my best friend which made her a no-go. Then there was the fact that she had only been broken up with Jake for four months, so if I didn't care about the "bro code" just like Jake hadn't cared when we met her, then the time still wasn't right.
Of course, there was also the fact that she would never go for a guy like me. She was a bubbly photographer who liked talking and being around other people.
She was colorful on the inside and out. Zara was just an amazing caring person and then there was me. A grumpy six years older detective who only wore black and who always carried his baggage around with him.
Safe to say we wouldn't make the best combination. Also she was small and I was sure I'd break her in bed.
When I broke out of my thoughts I noticed that we were still standing in the hallway, Zara hadn't said a word yet. I had noticed if she would've, I noticed when she does anything. It's like my eyes are automatically finding her, even in crowded rooms.
'Are you okay?' I asked and a deep sigh escaped her mouth. Her head moved up and down, but I was sure she wanted to shake no.
'Yeah, I'm fine. I think I'm just having to get used to being on a boat. I feel a little wobbly.' Still she hadn't looked at me, she obviously didn't want me to know, so I let it go.
'Yeah, same.' Again she nodded as if she wanted to prove it to herself before she walked off towards our cabin.